HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

fibercon

Support Forums
>
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 8/31/2009 3:05 AM (GMT 0)
Hey gang,

I was wondering if any of you use or have used fibercon and how you feel about it.  I'm thinking I need something to help me keep things moving, but I definitely don't want to use a laxative every day.  I know fibercon is a fiber laxative, but have heard it is safe to use.  What do you guys think?  confused

Posted 8/31/2009 11:34 AM (GMT 0)
I tried it. Didn't make things worse but didn't regulate my bm's as I had hoped it would. I'm living without the bottom part of my colon so my situation is a little different from say someone with their entire GI tract with IBS symptoms. It is safe to use. I would suggest you go slowly at first, low doses and ease into it.

However I have found great relief from Colace, 50 mg (a pediatric dose, ordered thru my pharmacy but still an OTC product).

My doctor said I'd be best using a low dose simple laxative/stool softener like Colace. And he was right. It gives that consistency I was looking for. I have faced the fact that I will have multiple bms for the rest of my life now (since I no longer have a sigmoid).

If you were to try Colace, make sure you don't buy generic, I accidentally starting use Kroger brand generic Colace, 50 mg, with senna in it. You do NOT want senna. Unless of course you are suffering from C. But senna messed me up - big time.
Posted 9/1/2009 12:03 AM (GMT 0)
My doctor told me to take 2 fibercons a day. I have but I dont know that I'n
m getting much out of them. They certainly havent helped the cramping any. I hope you dont mind me responding, I'm new to this site and IBS. Like everyone else im just looking for answers and relief.
Posted 9/1/2009 3:19 PM (GMT 0)
Of course I don't mind you answering. So you aren't getting any help, huh? Are you IBS C or D? I'm C most of the time. I'm so tired of buying product after product, so I thought I would ask before I put more money out into the world on this annoying problem. Have you found anything that works for you especially?
Posted 9/1/2009 7:13 PM (GMT 0)
Well for what it's worth, I had been trying diet, fiber con, etc. and my doctor kept saying - no all you need is a simple stool softener. He said it wouldn't add bulk to my tract but keep my stool more consistent. So I'm jumping in here and saying I was leary of taking Colace, because the box states it's a laxative. I avoided it for a few years until my doctor said - here take some samples I have. I tried the 100 mg dose but it was too strong. For a while I tried taking it every 36 hours, not 24, but it became confusing because I'd have to take it one morning, but then the evening of the next day. And 48 hours apart was confusing too. Once I discovered Colace comes in 50 mg doses, which is a pediatric dose, and can be ordered thru any pharmacy, I just didn't think a simple stool softener would help like it has. Of course I still go a lot each day but at least it is predictable and not D.

I also take a probiotic, Nature's Way, each evening too.
Posted 9/1/2009 11:19 PM (GMT 0)
I honestly dont know the difference between C & D, my doctor never talked to me about that. I have regular BM, never constipated or runny, just medium soft I would say but always the same. When my bloating and cramps 1st started 3 months ago they did a CT scan and the results we normal but stated "an abundance of stool in the colon". So, they said I was constipated. I took colace, fibercon, mirilax....you name it. Did two separate intestinal clean outs, one doctor recommended and one for my colonoscapy. Niether one changed my symptoms. I have abdominal cramps every day, never severe, always mild but always there. They kinda move around some but mostly present under my left breast and right side toward the back. lately, I have had lower to middle back pain every day. I seem to be able to eat almost anything, no nausea or vomiting, fever ....nothing. Just back pain, bloating and abdominal pain with mild headaches each day. It never goes away and its driving me crazy.
Posted 9/2/2009 1:22 AM (GMT 0)
It could be a combination of things - what you are eating and drinking and how you are eating (eating on the run, very fast, etc.).

I have read that to avoid excess gas, belching and bloating, you should chew your food well and eat smaller meals. Skip straws with drinks, eliminate caffeine, carbonated beverages, chewing gum, etc. Anything that would add more gas and air to the gut.

Also exercise might help. When I have a lot of belching, just going up and down a full set of stairs help bring it up and then out.

Finally, I have noticed my rumblings and activity in the gut is at a minimum if I have a nightly probiotic (Nature's Way, you find it in the health food section at the grocery, it's a chilled capsule near yogurt). Eating organic yogurt is good but I need to avoid milk. So the pill form seems to help me a lot.

I wish you well. Seems as if you're half way there trying to figure all of this out already.
Posted 9/2/2009 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
My GI suggested I take a fibre supplement daily and indefinitely (I chose one called Prodiem which is similar to metamucil) and I take caps, I think that's the only form the prodiem comes in....it was the best advice I've gotten from a GI (I have both crohn's and IBS), fibre is extreamly important and good advice to follow.


:)
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply